Observe
by Caderyn
Summary: NickSofia. CSIs have amazing perceptive skills, don’t they? So nothing should get pass them, especially not office romance.


**Summary: CSIs have amazing perceptive skills, don't they? So nothing should get pass them, especially not office romance.**

**Pairing: Nick/Sofia – Watch "Shooting Stars," people. It's SO THERE.**

**Disclaimer: CSI and all related character belong to CBS, Anthony Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer, and some people whose names I clearly acknowledge are in the credits, but I just can't recall them. I make no stinkin' profit out of this so don't sue, please.**

**A/N: Yay, I finally wrote fics for all _CSIs_! Nick/Sara (Snickers!) had always been my LV ship for 5 seasons, but then Nick/Sofia just throttled me and I never looked back. I still like Snickers, but I just never got any bouts of writing inspiration from it. This, meanwhile, I've got in my head for ages. So glad I finally got out of my writing rut and actually finished it.**

**Observe**

It was break time for the CSIs. Sara Sidle stood in the hallways.

Watching.

Intently.

But she wasn't keeping an eye on a particularly vicious suspect, smirking cruelly smug as he was being escorted down to holding, or even on the sorrowful relative of a victim, breaking down miserably in the visitors' lounge.

No, no, she was looking at two colleagues.

Interacting apparently innocently.

CSI Nick Stokes and Detective Sofia Curtis were locked up in a conversation at the end of hallway in front of her. It shouldn't have caught Sara's eyes at all, for CSIs and detectives catch each other up on work in hallways all the time, but there was just _something_…

Something… peculiar.

CSIs are trained to be perceptive after all.

Coming down the hallway from Sara's right, Warrick Brown called up to her, "Hey Sara, you got the ballistics result from Bobb-"

He stopped, noticing Sara's distracted look. "What are you looking at?"

Warrick followed her gaze, saw Nick and Sofia, and was about to question her again when it hit him.

He noticed _something_.

"I'll be damned."

"You see it, don't you? Something's going on."

Sara and Warrick glanced at each other and then turned back to the other couple.

Admittedly, Nick and Sofia weren't doing anything major. They were simply facing each other, talking. And smiling. A lot.

But it wasn't even that. There's just _something_ about the way she's playing with the collar of her shirt…

A shirt that curiously looked a tad too big for her slim frame.

And wasn't Nick wearing a shirt EXACTLY like that a few days ago?

Yes, Warrick was pretty sure of that as he was stuck in the lab with the dude all day long.

And speaking of Stokes… There was also just _something_ about the way he chewed on his pen.

He did it distractedly, unconsciously, but with a definite, natural, playful smile on his lips.

Oh, there's _something_ there.

As CSIs, they were sure of it.

Sara and Warrick were so caught up in their Nick-Sofia-watching that Catherine and Greg, who were about to pass them on the hallway, stopped to see what the heck was going on.

"What're you doing?" Catherine asked from behind Sara and Warrick's shoulders.

Neither Sara nor Warrick needed to answer, really, because Catherine could see for herself.

And so did Greg, who kindly quipped with his regular smirk, "Well, what do we have here?"

CSIs and their amazing perceptive skills. I tell you, nothing goes past them…

It wasn't too obvious, but Nick has put one hand on Sofia's shoulder, apparently teasing her with a private joke. It was hard to tell from this far back, but all of them would bet that Nick had that characteristic twinkle in his eyes.

Sofia responded by pouting her lips in that characteristic way of hers and tilted her head slightly, as if she's saying, 'Nick, you got me.'

"Did anyone see this coming?" Catherine remarked, looking around.

She received a series of 'nuh-uh's from Sara and Warrick, the latter of which aptly added, "But alright for my boy Nick. Getting some action."

Catherine chuckled while Sara just kind of looked at him incredulously, as if saying, 'Men!'

Greg, meanwhile, so innocently remarked, "I thought she was doing the funk with the Grissmeister."

The other three looked at him oddly.

"I'm just saying… I've always thought she and Grissom had a little 'somethin-somethin' brewing in the labs."

"I'm brewing 'somethin-somethin' with whom, Greg?"

Everyone was startled, for Grissom had just walked in from behind. He immediately noticed their objects of interest and had to stop in his tracks as well.

Out of anyone, nothing was sure getting passed this master criminalist.

Not that the signs were hard to miss this time. Nick and Sofia were standing quite close now, laughing goodheartedly. And, to top it off, Sofia's right hand was slightly holding onto Nick's shirt on his waist, while the words "I had a great time the other night" floated audibly from her lips to where the five CSIs were standing.

"Well, good for Nick," Grissom said in his predictably toneless, emotionless way of his.

Some laughs, some smiles were followed by Nick and Sofia before the latter sort of jerked her head slightly behind, as if asking if he's ready to go.

Nick and Sofia began to move…

Brass' face came blocking the five CSIs' view.

"What are you five doing?"

Some of them ignored him and continued to peer off his shoulders. They caught Nick putting his hand on Sofia's lower back, guiding her, as if that was the most natural thing on Earth.

Brass sneaked a glance over his shoulders and said dismissively, "Yeah, Nick and Sofia have got something going on. The whole squad knows about it. I can't believe you CSI guys missed it though."

Brass chuckled and walked away. The five stared at Brass, at Nick and Sofia's departing figures, and then at each other.

Huh.

So much for that amazing CSI perception…

Outside in the parking lot, Nick and Sofia sat in the car, chuckling.

"Man, it's so much fun messing with them." Nick said happily in the driver's seat.

"Greg's eyes were practically popping out of their sockets." Sofia laughed openly.

Nick turned to look at her, "That wasn't a very subtle coming-out party for us, was it?"

"Well, if everyone's gonna find out eventually, we might as well have fun with it," Sofia said with a wicked smile.

She then reached across, cupped Nick's freshly shaven jaw, and kissed him tenderly on the lips. Nick responded and pulled her closer by cupping the back of her head, his hand entangled in her ponytail.

When they separated, Sofia gave him another one of her teasing smiles. "So glad we got rid of that moustache of yours, Stokes."

Nick was playing with those soft bits of hair on her forehead that was too short for the ponytail, "So glad that you got me drunk and shaved it for me, Sofia."

The couple laughed naturally before settling back into their seats.

"So where to, Sofia?" Nick asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

"Burgers. Fries. I'm in the mood for drive-in. Sonic?"

"You're the lady."

**Dedicated to the few – but proud – SoNic shippers at Talk CSI. You guys are always complainin' about lack of fics. Well, voila. Ain't the best, but better than nothin'.**

**Review, please.**

**And rewatch "Shooting Stars" if you can.**


End file.
